At the Windham Town Council meeting on Tuesday, councilors voted 4-1 in favor of approving a $400,000 land purchase off Gray Road.

The land is a 23-acre lot centrally located next to the routes 302/202 rotary and is adjacent to Smith Cemetery. For several years, the council has been on the lookout for parcels of land for future development and now that search is over. This decision however did not come without dissenting opinion.

Before the vote, the council meeting was opened for public comment. Tom Gleason of Cook Road questioned councilors on the intended use for the land such as the expansion of the Smith Cemetery. Gleason argued that Arlington Cemetery still has room for more gravesites making the expansion of Smith unnecessary. He also expressed his disapproval at spending taxpayers’ money on such a purchase, especially if the land were to become home to new municipal facilities.

“I would rather see the money spent on this building (Windham Town Offices) and stay off the main road,” Gleason said. “Maybe it’s a good deal. I’m not going to say it’s not. The juror is out on whether it’s good or bad. I don’t think the municipality should be in business for itself.”

Lane Hiltunen of Gray Road seconded Gleason’s sentiment and said that he would take civil action against the purchase if it were voted in favor of. As of Thursday morning, Hiltunen said he would print out the petition Thursday afternoon and start seeking signatures Friday morning.

“I too think it’s not a bad deal. What I have got a problem with is that I feel for that amount of money that the voters should have had a direct vote on election day as referendum question,” Hiltunen said, “If it is voted in, I will start a petition to overturn the council immediately tomorrow morning.”

After public comment was closed, councilors discussed their reasons for voting for or against the purchase.

Councilor Ennis said he was voting in favor of the purchase so the town might secure land for the future of Windham.

“This process has been going on for years looking at various parcels for various reasons,” Ennis said. “If we didn’t take advantage of opportunities like this, we’d really be short-changing future generations. And some point in time, we have to look beyond our immediate needs and try to begin to address future needs. It’s never a good time to do this, but now things have seemed to come together where maybe the moon and stars have aligned in such a way where it would be feasible for us to do this.”

Councilor Wisecup expressed that the Smith Cemetery expansion was her main motivation in voting for the purchase.

“One of the reasons I’m voting for it is so that we do get some cemetery expansion and I don’t even want that to be a maybe,” Wisecup said, “I think a lot of people that live in Windham, that were born here will want to have a plot in Windham to be buried.”

Councilor Bartell presented his difference of opinion, citing that the money could be better spent.

“It’s difficult to argue against doing this because it seems like a good price for a good-sized piece of property,” Bartell said, “It’s the use of the money that I have difficulty with. I want to be able to think ahead and think about future generations, but the money that we’re talking about, that comes from projects that haven’t been completed, I think using such money for (the land purchase) is looking out for the future without paying any attention to the present or the past. $400,000 could go a long way in making some drastically needed changes to this facility here and the Public Works building. If we were to put this to referendum or at town meeting, I would be in support of it. I think that using these monies for this purpose is keeping faith with our employees or the people we raise the taxes from.”

The town has since put down $10,000 deposit on the land, $5,000 before and $5,000 after the vote, according to Town Manager Anthony Plante. The town is not however required to close the deal until June 21. Because of the ruling, the town is now obligated to purchase the land unless the council vote is overturned by a public referendum. Plante sees the question of whether the purchase should have been decided through a public referendum “a question of process.” The $400,000 for the purchase comes from funds that had already been appropriated by the council in years prior.

“The town charter says that once the appropriation has been made, the council has authority to use that money.” Plante said, “They are representatives elected by the taxpayers and that is how the system works.”

As part of their contract with the current owner Lynne Morrell, the council has hired a surveyor to mark off a 2-acre house lot from the total 25 acres to create the 23-acre parcel they will purchase.

The Windham Town Council voted 4-1 Tuesday night to purchase this 23-acre parcel near the Windham rotary.

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